Can a beer mat change your views on Brexit? Wetherspoon bosses thinks so

Published:11:54Wednesday 08 August 2018

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Leading pub chain JD Wetherspoon is launching a new “Brexit beer mat” to press home its view that prices will be lower if the UK does not reach a trade deal with the EU.

Around half a million of the mats will be distributed to 875 pubs, including a message to the three main political party leaders which says: “The vast majority of the public strongly objects to the crazy Government plan to pay £39 billion to Brussels, with nothing in return.”

Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin, a strong supporter of Brexit, said lawyers have stated there is no legal obligation for the UK to pay anything on leaving the EU.

He said: “We are calling on the Government not to pay the money.

“The message on the beer mat also makes it clear that, from our viewpoint, the Government should also choose free trade, on leaving the EU, by ending the taxes or ‘tariffs’ which the EU imposes on more than 12,000 non-EU imports.

“Under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, EU imports would also be tariff-free in this case.

“Ending tariffs means lower prices in shops and pubs.”

The message on the beer mats adds: “If the unelected President Juncker and his apparatchiks continue to be obstructive, remember that all EU products can be replaced by similar alternatives from the UK - or from the 93% of the world not in the EU.

“Our good friends in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and Canada have slashed tariffs - their citizens are better off as a result, and their economies have thrived.

“And our good friends in countries like the USA and India are keen to do trade deals with us.”